A new report by the United Educators insurance company shows that universities spent hundreds of millions of dollars on damages in 2025, according to an analysis of publicly reported settlements. Legal cases involved a variety of issues, ranging from deaths on campus to antitrust issues, cybersecurity breaches, discrimination, sexual misconduct and pandemic-era policy fallout. Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital had the largest settlement at $750 million.
Local News Boston police said "multiple institutions" have received similar threats, Suffolk University police said in an update sent to the university community. An emailed bomb to Suffolk University prompted the school to temporarily shut down a campus library Monday morning, a university official said. The threat targeted the Mildred F. Sawyer Library on Tremont Street, Suffolk University Vice President of Media Relations Greg Gatlin told Boston.com. Boston police swept the library as a precaution and deemed it all clear, Gatlin said.
When a gunman began firing inside an academic building on the Brown University campus, students didn't wait for official alerts warning of trouble. They got information almost instantly, in bits and bursts - through phones vibrating in pockets, messages from strangers, rumors that felt urgent because they might keep someone alive. On Dec. 13 as the attack at the Ivy League institution played out during finals week, students took to Sidechat, an anonymous, campus-specific message board used widely at U.S. colleges, for fast-flowing information in real time.
For humanities faculty, the past five years have felt like a relentless assault on our ability to do our jobs. We have endured COVID, generative AI, budget cuts, and bitter fights over the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and Israel's war on Gaza. At times it has been a challenge to remain human, let alone humanistic: to calm the nervous system enough to read a book, refine an argument, or show up for our colleagues and our increasingly fragile students.
Less than 12 hours after the mass shooting at Brown, a terror attack stunned Sydney's Bondi Beach, targeting Jews. This was another blow to us as Jews at Amherst. Between Bondi Beach and Brown, 17 are dead, and more than 40 wounded. And we are left thinking about what can be done in this country to make it possible for students and faculty not to have to look over their shoulders during classes or final examinations?
Multiple people were shot on Saturday in the area of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, police said, as the school issued an active-shooter alert and urged students and staff to take shelter during the second day of final exams. Police did not immediately release details about the victims' conditions or the circumstances of the shooting. Officials initially said a suspect was in custody, before saying that was not in fact the case and police were still searching for a suspect or suspects.
FRANKFORT, Ky. At least one student was killed and another was critically wounded in a shooting at a residence hall at Kentucky State University on Tuesday, and a suspect who is not a student at the school was in custody, officials said. The shooting happened around 3 p.m. and was an "isolated incident," Scott Tracy, assistant chief of police for Frankfort, said during a news conference Tuesday evening. Tracy said police swiftly responded to the shooting.
The Trump administration has opened a new investigation into protests at UC Berkeley this month in opposition to an event hosted by Turning Point USA, a conservative group founded by Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September. The probe by the U.S. Department of Education will review whether UC Berkeley violated the Clery Act. The federal law, enacted in 1990, requires colleges to report campus crime data and to give timely warnings of crimes that pose a threat.
Investigators at San Jose State University are calling in the FBI about graffiti on campus threatening a mass shooting. The university doesn't believe there's a credible threat but given what's happened lately, students are understandably alarmed. San Jose State's provost says someone found the graffiti Tuesday in an academic building. It included antisemitic and racist slurs. The campus police department is trying to identify the person who made the graffiti. There will be extra officers on campus in the coming days.
Crime scene tapes ropes off an area after a shooting at Laney College in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP) A college athletic director who starred in season five of the Netflix series Last Chance U was reportedly shot on campus Thursday. According to a report from NBC News, Laney College Athletic Director John Beam was in critical condition following the shooting.
Chief Campbell brings extensive experience in public safety and law enforcement, coupled with an understanding of the residential, academic, and social aspects that make up campus life. Having spent his career as an officer and leader in law enforcement agencies, his track record reflects his personal and professional commitment to building strong, collaborative relationships between officers within a police department and their communities.
A man's body was found at Independence High School early Thursday, prompting a police investigation into how he died and why he was on the grounds, authorities said. An unconscious man was discovered at the North Jackson Avenue campus just before 7 a.m., according to San Jose police. Both police officers and San Jose fire personnel responded to the scene, and the man was pronounced dead.
The shooting, which also resulted in serious injuries to two others, took place early Saturday morning on the college town's main street. One individual, not from the city, got into a verbal dispute and then opened fire toward the people he was confronting. The three individuals he hit, however, were bystanders. In a letter sent the same day as the shooting, Choi called on city and county leaders to bolster the police presence and prosecute crimes to the fullest extent of the law.
MIT police are investigating numerous instances of hateful speech and images around campus, President Sally Kornbluth said in a letter to the MIT community Friday. Kornbluth said the incidents - two hand-drawn swastikas, a sign wishing violence on a conservative non-profit, and cases of graffiti and an email list of "messages celebrating violence" - do not seem to be connected.
There's an attempt right now to basically say, if you shut up, you will be safe. And if you speak out politically, there's a good shot that some unhinged actor is going to take that as a threat and then come and try and kill you, Shapiro said, adding: Yeah, I mean, there will be. I've told my security team I will never again do an outdoor event.
At New York University, Black students reportedly received a threatening manifesto specifically targeting them, according to an email seen by the Guardian from the university's Black Student Union. The manifesto was said to contain extremely graphic threats of gun violence and stated the author was coming for only n******, citing the number of Black students as taking away from a safe space for white people.
Alexandra Buxbaum/Sipa USA via AP Images Charlie Kirk, the influential right-wing activist and founder of Turning Point USA, was reportedly shot at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. Bystanders report seeing Kirk shot near his neck during a Q&A with students, reported Deseret News. A number of social media users present at the event posted photos, video footage, and accounts of the shooting.
On September 3, 2025, just before 2:30 PM, the Lowell Police Department received a report of an individual possibly armed with a firearm. Patrol officers immediately responded and began to search the area. The Lowell Police Department Unmanned Aircraft System (Drone) was deployed as well as the Massachusetts State Police Air Wing. Numerous Police K9s, Massachusetts State Police Troopers, the NEMLEC Swat Team, UMass Lowell Police, LNHP Law Enforcement Rangers, the FBI, and ATF also responded to assist.
My inner mom voice was screaming, "Do not go! Nowhere in this world is safe, ever." While I was mentally panicking, I knew I needed to do what I've always done with my kids, and that was to portray an outward sense of calmness and confidence in her ability to make the decision. I encouraged her to reach out to her professor and classmates, and texted, "Do whatever you think is right, love."
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) - Police responded Thursday to a report of an active shooter on the campus of Villanova University, days before the start of classes. Students shared a text from the Villanova alert system that told them to lock and barricade doors and move to secure locations. A second alert from Villanova officials warned people to stay away from the law school.
During my interview for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, I was asked whether the administration should intervene when Jewish students are unsafe on campus, followed by a provocative comparison to potential violence against Black students.
"We recently learned that an employee of one of our security contractors has acted in ways that go against our values and directives," Michigan interim president Domenico Grasso wrote.
The public record completely contradicted what the nominee was telling us, Paul Renner said, highlighting skepticism towards Santa Ono's shifting views on DEI and campus safety.
Noem stated, "Some of these universities have even barred law enforcement officers from coming on campus, and haven't even allowed there to be basic law and order on the areas that they're responsible for."
The promotion of the protest on social media drew the attention of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, who urged us to bring the encampment to an end as quickly as possible.
